Optical scattering properties of a nano-textured ZnO-silicon interface

The scattering properties of transparent conductive oxide (TCO) layers are fundamentally related to the performance of thin film silicon solar cells. In this study we introduce an experimental technique to access light scattering properties at textured TCO-silicon interfaces. Therefore we prepared a sample with a polished microcrystalline silicon layer, which is deposited onto a rough TCO layer. We used the measured results to validate calculations obtained with rigorous diffraction theory, i.e. a numerical solution of Maxwell's equations. Furthermore we evaluated four approximate models based on the scalar scattering theory and ray tracing and compared them to the rigorous diffraction theory.